Do You Think Farmers' Goodwill Is Enough?

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Environment Secretary Theresa Coffey announced a new plan to protect the UK's environment. The government is also considering putting money into a survival fund for endangered species. But it would need buy-in from farmers, who are under financial pressure and want to maximize their food production in order to make money. "Farmers' goodwill alone is not really enough to save the environment," says Andrew Hammond.

This week the government published a major environmental improvement plan for England. It has pledged that every household will be within a 15-minute walk of green space or water, the restoration of 1.2m acres of wildlife habitat, and that sewage spills will be tackled with upgrades to wastewater treatment works. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvey, about the state of nature in the UK, what this plan promises to do, and whether it’s ambitious enough to halt and reverse damage done.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod